Just
by worthlessdeath
Summary: Just. Are we all just too late? Is it that we just fear the unknown? ONESHOT


**A/N: One shot. **Before anyone asks, no, I do not have anything against Starfire. She is a great character, but putting her in this kind of depressing situation might be hard for some readers and reviewers, especially myself, so you don't have to read this if you really don't want to. I'm not sure how this idea came to mind, but it did, and I am sorry to do this to Starfire. I have warned you.

If you really want to, imagine this is Terra. If you really want to, that is.

Sorry if it may seem a bit confusing. Bare with me.

**Disclaimer:** No, I don't own the Teen Titans, but I did create the poem called 'My Hands Are Burning'.

**Just**

"Starfire?Starfire?" came Robin's voice from outside her door, loud and clear. It sounded as if it came from right next to her, but it did not. His voice she heard, but it was not there.

"Starfire? I know you're in there. Please, Star. Open the door."

_I cannot move, dear friend, _Starfire whispered in her mind, _I cannot move...I cannot move..._

She lay sprawled out on her pink bed, her palms facing up towards the bare white ceiling. Her unblinking eyes were wide open in dread and fear. Pain and devastation. Sadness and misunderstanding. Her body was chained down by the unforgiving gravity, forcing her to not be able to fight back against it. To fight back...

Hot steaming tears fell silently, tears never before cried by any human or even such a unique alien as Starfire. They burned her cheeks like hot coals that were left in the scorching fire too long, but did not fly away as dust. Her lips peeled and bled, her tongue only tasting the taste of blood, from the burning of her body.

Starfire only could see the bare white ceiling far above her that could be nice and cool like a lake of gentle water. Water that could never Break. Just water was all she wanted.She only felt it. She only felt it...if only it would just leave her alone.

_My burning hands,_

_My hands are burning_

_suffocating...blazing..._

_Yearning, yearning..._

_As if it Demands_

_nothing but my suffering soul_

_long weakened strands..._

_bloody crimson hands_

_Only felt the bituminous coal..._

"Come out, Starfire. You haven't been out of your room for two days now. Come on out." Robin knocked on her door for a minute, stopped, and then continued to knock on her door again.

_Your voice,_ thought Starfire, _I hear your voice... as if...as if it was...tumbling water...but...but...it is not there...no...You are not there...You are not there..._

Starfire did not know when this had started. Her pain. When her pain started. It might have been the day before. Or years before. Or has it been lasting forever? She did not know. No one would know. For she was not there.

"Robin, what is it?" came Cyborg's voice. Heavy footsteps. Echoing footsteps.

"It's Starfire. she won't come out."

"You sure she's in there?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure. I've searched everywhere for her but here. The door's locked."

Yes, she had locked the door. Starfire did not know why, but she remembered herself locking the door for no apparent reason the night before. Had it been the night before? Or had she possibly just imagined the coolness of the door when she had touched it?

The coolness of water is what she wanted. Only white is what she saw.

"Starfire? Starfire? Open up." Cyborg knocked on the door, along with the banging of Robin's.

_They do not understand,_ Starfire thought sadly, her throat parched, her breath long gone, her eyes dry, only heat...and hot blood... _I do not understand either. No one will...because I am not here..._

_I cannot speak_

_I cannot say_

_the pain that sinks_

_beyond this Day_

_was it something I ate?_

_Or was it just meant to be_

_Indeed...it is my fate_

_This...this burning inside of me..._

"I'm sorry Robin," Cyborg said. "I don't think she is in there."

"She _has_ to be. She is in there! I know it. I feel it."

"Calm down, man,"Cyborg said calmly. "Maybe she is sleeping or something. There are many possibilities."

"If she was sleeping, than she would have heard us," Robin said. "She could be in trouble."

"Don't worry, Robin," Cyborg said. "Starfire can handle anything."

_I wish I could live up to your words, friend Cyborg_..._but I cannot...I cannot..._

_Ice, rain, water, snow..._

_to blind this heat_

_forever hold_

_something sweet_

_Perhaps...a kiss..._

_I long for now_

_I dare not miss_

_Heal me, I call out_

_Heal me...find me..._

_Save me from this drought..._

The knockings that fell upon Starfire's door became rapidly louder, but she did not hear them, or move...or breathe. All she could do was wait. Wait for what? she pondered on about. She did not know. She would never know. Maybe for help, help that would never come, or for just the end of this interminable pain.

"Starfire! Starfire, open the door!"

"Come on out, Starfire," Cyborg said loudly but still in a calm way. He thought there was nothing to be worried about, that no reason for Robin to be all worked up about all of this. What he did not know, was that he was terribly wrong. "We don't have all day. Come on, Star."

"Starfire, we know you're in there. Just come out!"

_I know you're out there,_ Starfire thought mockingly, surprising herself by her own thoughts. _But that does not stop what is now happening. It continues, does it not? Do we not all see what is going on?_

Droplets of sweat began to poor from her forehead, mixing in with her salty tears, falling onto her pink bead. The tears would always leave her bedspread moist. Always and forever more...yet would go unnoticed till the end….

_My hands are burning_

_can you not see?_

_Or are you so blind a blinding_

_to never notice this in me?_

_To a crisp, I become_

_Nothing less...nothing won..._

Her red hair was tangled into impossible knots that could never come undone. Her hands...burning...

"If she doesn't open up," Cyborg said lazily, "than I'm going to break down this door." He said it as if it was a threat, but it was only a bluff.

Silence.

"I dunno, but this seems kind of scary," Cyborg said. "Maybe she wants to be left alone, I don't know."

"She's in there," Robin said fiercely. "She's in there. We have to-"

"Calm down, man," Cyborg said. "Since Beast boy somehow 'damaged' my scanneron my arm, that little weasel… I'll go look up on the main computer just to make sure she is in there. Just to make sure, ok? Just to see she is in the tower."

Just...Just...

Heavy footsteps faded away. Or was that the last beatings of her heart? Did it not already stop? Did her blood not already boil over? Star wondered disgusting thoughts that did not mean anything to her...or would ever...

Silence.

_Do not leave me_

_here to bleed_

_to not lead me to believe_

_I am nothing but this...this weed_

_I must continue to plead_

_that you are still there waiting for me_

_to be_

_to see_

_I bleed..._

She felt like she had been laying there for centuries without hearing a voice. A knock. Footsteps. No life. Nothing. Would they have a chance? A chance to save her? Save her from what?

_Please...just find me here...just break down my door! Just knock down my door! Please...just find me here...I beg of you..._

"Robin," Cyborg said, his voice filled with worry. Thundering footsteps... booming footsteps...echoing footsteps...footsteps... "Robin, she's in there."

"I knew it," came Robin's voice. "I knew she was in there."

"Maybe she just wants to be left alone," Cyborg repeated again. "Or maybe she is mad or something."

"I don't think so."

"I just don't know. But why isn't she answering?"

"It doesn't matter now," Robin said gravely. "We have to get in there. I feel something is wrong."

"Like what?" Cyborg asked seriously.

No answer.

_Can you not hear_

_My failing screams?_

_Failing to seem?_

She did not hear what Cyborg and Robin did next. Only she knew one thing. And one thing only.

Rapid knocks. Bangs. Yelled words taking the shape of Starfire's Earthly name. She did not hear. She did not know they were there. Was she there? If she was there, she would not be complete. Never complete is one...

_As I disappear_

_into immortality_

_becoming only a fatality..._

_Darkness_

_fear..._

_As you wait outside my door..._

_Must you ignore?_

She still saw the white ceiling, thinking she was still there. Knowing she was not.

Thinking she was still laying on her pink bed. Knowing she was not.

Hearing the noises of her friends. Knowing she was not.

Feeling nothing else...feeling only what she had no choice but to. Knowing she was...

_My hands are burning_

_burning...burning..._

_dare no smoke_

_I disappear_

_No...I was never here..._

The door came down in crash, breaking it in half by Cyborg and Robin's powerful kick.

Only to open up into an empty room.

"Starfire?" Robin said, at loss.

She was not there. Nor was she anywhere else.

Nor were they.

Yet, all that was left of her existence was the slight wrinkles left on her pink bed. On one side there were wet marks that would always be there forever more. To go unnoticed. Till the end.

That was all that was left.

"She's not here Robin," Cyborg said slowly. "This doesn't make sense..."

"She was here," Robin whispered, eyes closed, fists clenched. His voice was of defeat. "We...we were just too late..."

Just. Just too late.

_Was I there?_

_In despair?_

_Yes..._

_Yes..._

_I was there_

_Just. Just too late..._

_But...never fear..._

_For I was not spared..._

_Neither were you_

_you do not see_

_forever hold true_

_in this everlasting sleep..._


End file.
